Olympics-Ice hockey-No NHLers, no interest as Canada roll to easy win

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Canada opened their defence of their Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal with a workmanlike 5-1 win over Switzerland on Thursday in a muted contest that failed to fill the Kwandong Hockey Centre.

What would have been one of the hottest tickets at any of the five previous Olympics featuring a Canadian team loaded with National Hockey League stars playing in their tournament opener was treated with disinterest as the world’s best players sat these Games out.

With the NHL deciding to end its Olympic involvement Canada was forced to assemble a roster of mostly anonymous journeymen and minor leaguers, the absence of marquee names having a bigger impact on attendance than on the ice as Canada rolled to a confidence-boosting win.

Canada would usually be the main attraction packing the largest venue but on Thursday the gold medallists were relegated to the smaller arena used primarily for women’s hockey while the host South Koreans took on the Czech Republic across town at the main arena.

Large swathes of empty seats contributed to a flat atmosphere inside the arena that a day earlier had been rattling with excitement for a women’s hockey game between a united Korean team and Japan.

The Canadian team that stepped on to the Kwandong Hockey Centre ice on Thursday could not have been more different than the one that claimed gold four years ago in Sochi.

That was a team of future Hockey Hall of Famers, NHL most valuable players and scoring champions like Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews.

The roster that opened defence of that gold was one cobbled together from NHL spare parts and castoffs. A team of mostly unknowns earning a pay cheque playing in remote hockey outposts.

Fans or no fans Canada got their bid for a third consecutive gold off to an inspired start with Rene Bourque redirecting Chris Lee’s shot from the blueline past Leonardo Genoni to open the scoring and Maxim Noreau adding a powerplay tally for a 2-0 first period lead.

Bourque found the back of the net again in the second which was followed 52 seconds later with another powerplay goal from Wojtek Wolski that pushed the lead out to 4-0.

Simon Moser’s third period powerplay goal accounted for all the Swiss scoring and Wolski answered with an empty netter for Canada. (Editing by Ed Osmond)